Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels addressed the CPAC crowd tonight in Washington DC, noting the growing federal debt is threatening the survival of the nation, and conservatives must unite themselves and the country behind defeating the 'new Red Menace' of red ink.
Daniels, who served as political director under former President Ronald Reagan and budget director under former President George W. Bush, said the necessary changes include restructuring Social Security and Medicare for later retirees, putting at least a moratorium on new regulations, if not adopting a "self-certification regime," making the tax code "lower and flatter," ramping up domestic energy production and not exempting defense spending from budget scrutiny. Daniels said it's up to conservatives to be specific on "the best way back to greatness." But that doesn't mean they should hold out for an ideal solution.
"Should the best way be blocked, while the enemy draws nearer, then someone will need to find the second-best way. Or the third, because the nation's survival requires it," Daniels said. "Purity in martyrdom is for suicide bombers."
Getting enough support for the changes, he said, requires showing a "special passion for those still on the first rung of life's ladder. Upward mobility from the bottom is the crux of the American promise, and the stagnation of the middle class is in fact becoming a problem, on any fair reading of the facts," Daniels said. "Our main task is not to see that people of great wealth add to it, but that those without much money have a greater chance to earn some."
"Mitch Daniels is the one person who hasn't been trying to toot his own horn for the past three years," Yale senior Max Eden said. "We're trying to just help get the word out about him because everybody we talk to about him loves him, but not enough people know about him yet."
His student group distributed T-shirts modeled after the Obama "Hope" poster, replaced with Daniels and the word "Solvency." The group also distributed buttons and cards promoting Daniels' "legacy of leadership" and his "results not rhetoric."
Daniels, who served as political director under former President Ronald Reagan and budget director under former President George W. Bush, said the necessary changes include restructuring Social Security and Medicare for later retirees, putting at least a moratorium on new regulations, if not adopting a "self-certification regime," making the tax code "lower and flatter," ramping up domestic energy production and not exempting defense spending from budget scrutiny. Daniels said it's up to conservatives to be specific on "the best way back to greatness." But that doesn't mean they should hold out for an ideal solution.
Getting enough support for the changes, he said, requires showing a "special passion for those still on the first rung of life's ladder. Upward mobility from the bottom is the crux of the American promise, and the stagnation of the middle class is in fact becoming a problem, on any fair reading of the facts," Daniels said. "Our main task is not to see that people of great wealth add to it, but that those without much money have a greater chance to earn some."
"Mitch Daniels is the one person who hasn't been trying to toot his own horn for the past three years," Yale senior Max Eden said. "We're trying to just help get the word out about him because everybody we talk to about him loves him, but not enough people know about him yet."
His student group distributed T-shirts modeled after the Obama "Hope" poster, replaced with Daniels and the word "Solvency." The group also distributed buttons and cards promoting Daniels' "legacy of leadership" and his "results not rhetoric."